Last update on. From the section Athletics
Antrim Coast Half Marathon: Yelemzerf Yehualaw breaks a new world record
Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yihualaw broke the world record for women's half-marathon at the Antrim Coast race in Northern Ireland.
Yehualaw (22 years old) clocked 63 mins and 43 seconds, which was 19 seconds faster than the mark set earlier this year by Ruth Chepngetich in Kenya.
Ethiopia was able to maintain a world-record pace throughout the entire race.
Jemal Yimer, her compatriot, won the men's event with a time of 60:29. He beat another Ethiopian Tesfahun Akkalnew.
Yimer was able to finish the all-African top three with one second left from Akalnew. Shadrack Kimining from Kenya had a second spare.
The winning time of the men in the World Athletics Label race was just two seconds slower than the 60:27 course record that Sir Mo Farah set last year when he won the inaugural event.
Yalemzerf Yehualaw was 19 seconds faster than the previous record held Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich
All the attention from the Northern Ireland event will be focused on Yehualaw who is the new female world record holder for the women's category. She was helped by her male pacemakers at the Larne coast course.
She was 57 seconds faster than her personal record, which she set in Istanbul this year when Chepngetich broke the world record.
Yehualaw ran the first 5km in 15:05, eight seconds faster than the world record. She was six seconds ahead of schedule when she crossed the 15km mark at 45:24.
The Ethiopian finished the race with a record-breaking six kilometres, helped by a section of downhill in the last two kilometres. She surpassed Chepngetich's previous best.
Yehualaw was more than six minutes faster than Kenya's Vane Nyamboke [69.44] and Rose Harvey, an Englishwoman, was 32 seconds behind in third.
Harvey's compatriot Georgie Schwiening came in fourth place in 71:12, while Northern Irish couple Fionnuala Ros [73:09] & Ann-Marie McGlynn (73:12] were fifth & sixth.
After being in the lead trio until the final sprint, Marc Scott from Tokyo Olympian was fourth in the men's race. Yimer was fifth.
Yimer wins the Antrim Coast Half Marathon men's race
Ryan Creech was the top Irishman, clocking a personal record of 63.25 to place sixth. Paul O'Donnell placed seventh at 63.36. Stephen Scullion, a Tokyo Olympian, finished ninth at 63.53.
Scullion, who was forced to withdraw from the Olympic marathon by the heroic hero of Sapporo just three weeks ago, set a Northern Ireland half-marathon record with 61:08, finishing fourth in the Antrim Coast race last year.
